Apparatus for recording and reproducing sound records



Sept. 26, 1939. RATTRAY 2,174,167

APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SOUND RECORDS Filed 001". 50, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. George Raff/"a y BY M ATTORNEYS G. RATTRAY Sept. 26, 1939.

APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SOUND RECORDS a Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 30, 1936 IN VENTOR.

r WW Sept. 26, 1939. G. RATTRAY 2,174,167

APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SOUND RECORDS Filed Oct. 30, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

George Raff/"my ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 26, 1939 APPARATUS FOR RECORDING AND REPRO- DUCING SOUND RECORDS George Rattray, Mineola, N. YQassignor to Fairchild Aerial Camera Corp., New York,

N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application October 30,

4 Claims.

This invention relates in general to a phonograph apparatus especially to a portable phonograph apparatus embodying a recorder mechanism, and more particularly to means for changing the spiral cutting pitch of the recorder mechanism, and means to reverse the direction of feed of the stylus.

Apparatus of a portable character, to be satisfactory, must fulfill various requirements, including among others, certain capabilities which will now be stated and which constitute objects of the present invention, viz. '(a) the recorder must be capable of recording a wide range of frequencies with optimum fidelity. Such optimum fidelity of recording can be attained best by making available a choice of speeds of operation of the sound record disc member; and, as a corollary, by making available readily a choice of spiral-cutting pitches; and further, by providing for cutting the record at any of the selected pitches, either from the inside of the record to the outside, or from the outside in.

Again, in order to make this provision for pitchselection desirably useful, it is necessary that the changes in speed ratio and direction shall be capable of accomplishment without the necessity of changing feed screws, and this accordingly is included in the category of objects to be solved by the present invention.

While improvements of ,the character abovementioned, and hereinafter described and illustrated are of notable utility when embodied in apparatus of a portable character, it is to be understood that they are intended to be utilized in any department of the field of sound recording and reproduction for which they are adapted by their nature.

In pursuance of the above general objects, it is a more particular object of the present invention to bring the use of the aforesaid more technical improvements within the range of users of a portable recording and reproducing apparatus in such places as high schools, etc., where only average skill and little experience of a technical character may be expected from the available operators.

To this end, the invention provides means for effecting the necessary change ofdirection of cut (from the inside out and outside in) by the movement of a single easily accessible lever, and for making it possible to make quickly a manual substitution of gears for generating pitches of, say, 90, 110, 130 and 150 lines per inch selectively, and to make provision for thereupon setting the selected gear in mesh, ready for operation, by a 1936, Serial No. 108,462

further movement of the aforesaid lever in the same directions as it has been moved for the di-.' rectional setting which controls the cut.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the co-ordination and consolidation of the above designated speed-changing and directioncontrolling instrumentallties within a sealed housing which, when assembled, becomes an integral part of the mounting panel, and which protects the mechanism so enclosed from injury thereto by the casual contacts incidental to the frequent transportation of a portable instrument of such a delicate character, and also protects it from the tampering therewith by unauthorized persons in many of the places where it must, perforce, be left unguarded from time to time.

Other objects and features of the present in-' vention will be made to appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment of the invention selected to illustrate the same progresses.

In the accompanying drawings, like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the draw ings, in which: 2

Fig. 1 is .a plan view, partly in section on the irregular line Ii of Fig. 2, of part of a sound recording and reproducing apparatus in the construction of which the present invention has been embodied;

g Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view in vertical sec on on the irregular line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view in elevation q of the direction-changing lever in a position adapted to set the parts for feeding the recording head in a direction opposite to that in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing said lever in a position adapted to set the parts to feed the recording head in the same direction as in Fig. 1, and at a pitch of 150 lines per inch, the appropriate gear for producing a speed commensurate with that pitch being shown in its operating position.

In a now-preferred embodiment of the invention selected for illustration and description to permit ready and complete understanding of the invention, the part designated by the reference character I I is the base of a sound recording and reproducing apparatus of a portable character, the base comprising a box-like casing within which is housed the motor M, outlined schematically in dotted lines in Fig. 1, merely by way of indicating what has been found to be a desirable location for it in the general organization of the apparatus according to the research already mentioned, this portion of the research having'eventuated in a co-pending application by the present inventor, serial No. 108,463 to which reference may be had for a disclosure of various features which have proved of importance in the solution of certain problems attendant upon making a successful recorder of'the portable type free from motor-originated vibration.

The motor M is indicated as driving the main arbor i2 of the turntable T through the medium of a worm It upon a shaft II, the worm ll engaging a worm gear it upon the arbor. Spiral gears l2 and ii are secured respectively to shafts l2 and I! to drive the shaft II which extends from said arbor to the vicinity of the speed change gearing now to be described, the shaft is being provided with thrust bearings at each of its ends, in known manner, as at II and II.

A pinion It on the shaft I! meshes with a carrier gear is on a stud shaft 20, to be described later in detail, and which serves also as the axis for a control lever L of generally triangular shape.

this lever carrying at one of its angles, as 2|, a carrier gear 22 which is in constant meshing relationship with the carrier gear l9. At about the mid-point of its side 23 the lever L is provided with another carrier gear 24, which meshes constantly with the gear 22, but never with the gear is and is rotated by gear 22v in a reverse direction.

All of the gears thus' far mentioned are of fixed and unvarying diameter, and the desired changes of speed are secured by placing a suitable gear of selected size upon the end 25 of the feed screw S of the mechanism that causes traverse of the carrier H bearing the recording head H for actuationof the instrument I, which in turn operates in contact with the sound record disc member D. I

In pursuance of the invention, provision is made of several gears, as those designated I to 4, carried on a storage sleeve lit which in turn is supported on and removable from a fixed rod II to give ready access to the gears, this set being designated generally by the reference character G. There may be any desired number of gears in the set, each having a hub 11: which is adapted to fit upon the end 25 of the feed-screw B. At the inner side of each hub a: there is a notch 21,

adapted to be engaged with a dowel 28 which in accordance with the pitch which it is decided to cut upon the record.

In the instance illustrated, there are four of the change speed gears in the set G, and the gear on the screw end 25 is gear No. 4, i. e., the largest of the four, which is adapted to drive the feed screw S at its slowest speed in direct, viz., at say, lines to the inch, this gear being of a suitable diameter and gear ratio to be engaged with the carrier gear 22, as shown in Fig. 2.

This figure shows also how the lever L is disposed in order to hold the gear 4 in its meshed operative position, it being understood that each "of the low holes 42:, 3x, 2x and la: represents a change in speed ratio progressively toward the highest speed, called first speed, while each of the holes in the upper series, from 4R to IR, represents a similar change from low speed in reindex hole-it has entered.

Fig. 5 shows thestud entered in the bottom hole of the lowerseries, this being its position when the smallest gar No. 1 of the series is mounted upon the end 2| of the feed screw 8, and the pitch cut is of the order of lines per inch.

Thewall2lisshownashavingacentralbossfl of annular form, to which a bezel ll is secured by screws ll, and within the bezel ll is confined a disheddisc spring 3'! which tends constantly to bias the bearing collar 88 rearward against the wall 2!, and to bias the feed screw rearward 30 against the end-thrust ball bearing 4|.

As already indicated, the'feed screw is formed with a semi-spheroidal bearing surface ll at its other end and a ball 4| held in place by an abutment screw 42, prevents any end shake in that '15 direction. This construction compensates for any disalignment of the shaft bearing in the bracket II and housing 8|.

As already indicated in the opening part of the specification, all of the parts last described as above are enclosed by. the housing A, which is desirably made of aluminum, mounted rigidly upon the cross-rods l4, and sealed by a closure plate 45, which extends over its entire front face. and is only removed when it is desired to set the gearing in the manner already described.

It will be readily seen from the foregoing disclosure that the structure described constitutes a sturdy embodiment of the invention and is designed to accomplish the several objects recited so at the opening part of the present specification, it being understood that the particular physical embodiment illustratively shown and described does. not exhaust the possible embodiments of the idea of means underlying the invention. 55

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention; I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the kind described, the combinatlon with an input rotary member and an output rotary member of a gear fixed on one of said members, a transmitting and reversing gear unit comprising a gear carrier mounted for swinging movement about the axis of the rotary member which carries the fixedgear, a pair of meshing gears carried thereby one in mesh with the fixed gear and the other escaping engagement therewith, said rotary member which does not carry the fixed gear adapted to have aiiixed upon it gears of various sizes adapted to be engaged selectively by the gears of the transmitting and reversing unit, and detent means cooperative with 76 the gear carrier and including a plurality of sets of depressions, each set being adapted to detain the carrier in forward or reverse driving position when a particular gear is used.

2. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with an input rotary member and an output rotary member of a gear fixed on one of said members, a transmitting and reversing gear unit comprising a gear carrier mounted for swinging movement about the axis of the rotary member which carries the fixed gear, a pair of meshing gears carried thereby one in mesh with the fixed gear and the other escaping engagement therewith, said rotary member which does not carry the fixed gear adapted to have aflixed upon it gears of various sizes adapted to be engaged selectively by the gears of the transmitting and reversing unit, and detent means constructed and arranged to hold the carrier selectively in dismounted for swinging movement about the axisof the rotary member which carries the fixed gear, a pair or meshing gears carried thereby at opposite sides of the line of centers of themput and output rotary members, one in mesh with the fixed gear and the other escaping engagement therewith, said other rotary member which does not carry the fixed gear adapted to have afilxed upon it gears of various sizes adapted to be engaged selectively by the gears 01 the transmitting and reversing unit, the carrier supported gears being of equal radii and each having a radius substantially greater than one third of the distance from the Periphery of the fixed gear to the axis of said other rotary member, and detent means constructed and arranged to hold the carrier selectively in distinct and definite direct and reverse driving positions for each of a plurality of gears of difierent sizes.

4. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with an input, rotary member and a gear driven output rotary member, of a gear fixed on one of said members, said rotary member which does .not carry the fixed gear adapted to have affixed upon it gears of various sizes, and a transmitting reversing gear unit comprising a gear carrier mounted for swinging movement about the axis of the rotary member which carries the fixed gear, and gearing mounted on the carrier and disposed between the fixed gear and the driven rotary member for operatively interposing,

at will, a driving train composed either of an even number of gears or of an odd number 0! gears, between the fixed gear on one rotary member and the selected gear on the other rotary member, and detent means constructed and arranged to hold the carrier selectively in distinct and definite direct and reverse driving positions for each of a plurality of gears of different sizes.

GEORGE RATI'RAY. 

